Speaking in the Assembly the South Armagh representative said Daisy Hill provided a vital service to rural communities.
“I would ask the Minister to do all in his power to protect the Daisy Hill Hospital Emergency Department,” she said. “You cannot overestimate the importance of a fully functioning, 24/7 Emergency Department, particularly for rural communities such as the one I represent.
“This is especially important, given the completely inadequate Ambulance Service cover that there has been in south Armagh. Recently, the South Armagh First Responders were set up as a community innovation to tackle the problem, but the Health Minister needs to bring his own innovation to recruitment.
“To date, his predecessors have failed to tackle the recruitment problem that has been bubbling up in the health service,” the local MLA insisted.
The Health Minister responded by saying that he was aware of the problem and had been in talks with Newry MLA Conor Murphy on the issue. “I have no desire to see emergency services reduced at Daisy Hill Hospital but, as the Member will appreciate, my priority will always be to try to ensure the highest possible levels of quality and safety in our health and social care services,” he said.
“I met representatives of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine last week to discuss not specifically the issue at Daisy Hill Hospital but a range of issues. They welcomed the efforts that had been put in over the last number of years to attract more staff to emergency medicine. They did not, by any means, conclude that we were out of the woods or that we had solved all the problems.
Hamilton added, “There are issues and challenges at Daisy Hill Hospital, and I am aware of them. I look to the trusts to work at resolving those issues and I am happy to make my own suggestions if I have them.”

This website does not share personal information with third parties nor do we store any information about your visit other than to analyze and optimize your content and reading experience through the use of cookies. You can turn off the use of cookies at anytime by changing your specific browser settings.

We are not responsible for republished content from this blog on other blogs or websites without our permission. This privacy policy is subject to change without notice and was last updated on 16/01/2017. If you have any questions feel free to contact Newry Times by emailing editor@newrytimes.com